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Sunday, September 9, 2018

One of the things that I am truly grateful for and enjoy more than I prob let anyone know, are slow Sundays. Most know me as the always on the go, ready for an adventure, Lauren. And 85% of the time that is true. Every once in awhile, I absolutely love a day where I can just sit on the couch with Ty, coffee in hand and a cozy blanket. We let the kids stay in their pj's all day and make a mess of everything. We eat comfort food and watch movies together. The kids are really into the 80's movies that I've been picking lately. So far we have watched Harry and the Henderson's, Batteries Not Included and ET. They are loving these films! And of course this makes me happy since I'm an old 80's movies junkie.

We are having a slow Sunday over here today. Watching football, meal prepping lunches for the week and yes, I'm having a glass of red wine. It's still 90's over here but I'm in a Fall mood and red wine just seems to go with that whole theme. It barely rained here in San Antonio all summer. And now it has been raining for about a week. Which we totally needed. This also gives us some time to chill and just hang out.

The last couple of weekends have been us getting ready for back to school and getting into the groove of schedules. We did a lot of online shopping but I did take the kids to pick out a few things since this gets them excited for school. I've been doing well with meal prepping for the week's lunches and meal planning for the week's breakfasts and dinners. (I am working on some new fitness and food posts for you all.) I feel like it's easier to keep focused this way. I have a set schedule now and it has been SO much easier to workout and even get in daily walks/jogs. Life all around has been smoother. I have a love/hate relationship with routine. On the one hand it does make life so much easier. The kids love being in a set daily pattern. I think most kids thrive in this type of environment. But the free spirit side of me gets extremely antsy. Working from home has it's perks: no driving to work, I can work in sweats if I please & I get a workout in on my lunch....but After a few months, I am ready for some crazy adventures!!! I go a little stir crazy. And it's always been like this for me. I have learned to incorporate fun activities into our lives often so that I don't get burnt out with "routine".Everything in moderation, right?

In other news.....I've come to the realization that I am missing our own house. We came here for a temporary move and so we rented a house. We are in a small 3 bedroom, 1 floor house. Coming from a 4 bedroom, 4 bath, large house on almost 2 acres with a private back yard and a big playroom AND workout area, it's an adjustment in a lot of ways. AND it's not even the space that really bothers me. I honestly just miss decorating and updating- and having something that we know is ours. Ok it's the space too. Haha.
To be honest, I haven't really done anything here at our house in Texas. We moved here and bought all new furniture (we left most of our furniture behind in NY) and have left it like that since we moved in.

Back in NY, the kids always had cute rooms themed to their liking. Partially because I wanted to make them smile and partly because I enjoyed decorating them. Here, they had mattresses on the floor with no beds for 3 months or so. I did finally buy new beds. I JUST bought a new dresser for our room last month. I procrastinated for so long because I just told myself we are moving soon and so large totes all over the bedroom is acceptable. Everything that I brought to hang on the walls, I haven't. It just doesn't feel like our house. When you have owned, it's hard to go back to renting. I'm not feeling the carpet and tile throughout this house (ugh, HATE carpet) and we have thee teeny tiniest backyard/outdoor area you have ever seen. We have never been out there without seeing one of the 5 abutting neighbors over the not-tall-enough fence. Granted they are all super sweet and friendly, I still miss having a private backyard. And Ty wants a new grill in the worst way, but it's silly to buy a new one when we have a built in one back home. Update: We bought a grill.

I have put off decorating altogether. I feel like we are staying at a hotel for a really long time. And I know it's not ours so what's the point to put all of this effort into something that we are only staying in for a little while? So I guess that is the reason why I haven't done much with our house here.

Since we have been here, I have been so busy with relocation details and trying to figure out schools, doctors, traveling and working on top of that, that I haven't even thought about it much. Once things came together and slowed down, I had time to think and I am realizing I miss decorating and having a home of our own. There are a lot of things up in the air right now. Some that I don't even want to think about right now because they are out of my control and some possibilities that could be really exciting. It's just a lot of unknowns and we won't know until closer to the end of the year. Ty and I talked about when we do leave, do we want to move back to our old NY house or build. I have seen MANY houses being in real estate and I can honestly say that I have never found a home that I thought would be perfect. So we think building is the route we will go. I think that is really the only way that we would get what we truly want.

My style has changed a bit over the years. But ultimately the basics haven't changed. I like an eclectic look. Some traditional, some modern and some modern farmhouse vibes. I even love west coast feel so it's hard to pull that all together into one house. Everything I love is open, airy and bright. Lots of natural sunlight. TONS of windows. In fact, I love natural light so much that I want an entire wall to be one large folding or floor length window. It would have an open floor plan and a private backyard like our NY home has. Wood floors everywhere, lots of whites and neutrals. I can see it perfectly in my mind and even have a floor plan picked out.

For now I'll keep pinning on my Pinterest board and being ok with the idea that someday soon we will have a home that feels more like ours. When Ty accepted this job, we did so knowing that we wanted an adventure and that is exactly what we've gotten. Our intentions were to experience life differently. We've seen so many cool places, traveled and experienced all sorts of fun new things. It's been a great year and I am so thankful for that!! And well, the year is not over yet. So we'll just continue on having fun until our next move comes about. Sometimes you just have to let life happen as it does. And often times, it comes together just how it's supposed to.

To all my NY people, I am envious of your sweaters and colorful leaves!! I'm living vicariously through your posts and photos. ;) Meanwhile, over here we are getting a "cool down" from the rain we've been having. We are seeing the 80's and it feels amazing! I hope you are all getting settled back into routines and getting back in the groove of schedules this Fall.